Press Play with Madeleine Brand: California case: free speech v. abortion rightsCrisis pregnancy centers are generally run by pro-life groups that aim to convince pregnant women not to get abortions. A California law requires that employees tell their clients that the state offers free and low-cost abortions and other family planning services. Now a group of these centers is arguing that the law violates their freedom of speech.

UnFictionalUnbelievably true stories of chance encounters that changed the world. A pair of mail-order shoes that led to the film The Outsiders. A secret road to a California paradise. The day LA and smog first met. Stories that will stick in your head like a memory. It’s UnFictional, hosted by Bob Carlson.

The DocumentThe Document is a new kind of mash-up between documentaries and radio. It goes beyond clips and interviews, mining great stories from the raw footage of documentaries present, past and in-progress. A new episode is available every other Wednesday on iTunes and wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.

To the PointA weekly reality-check on the issues Americans care about most. Host Warren Olney draws on his decades of experience to explore the people and issues shaping – and disrupting - our world. How did everything change so fast? Where are we headed? The conversations are informal, edgy and always informative. If Warren's asking, you want to know the answer.

Human Behavior and the Rest of the Natural World

The latest Red List shows that mammals, amphibians, birds and plants
are disappearing faster than ever because of human activities. Also, thousands of GM workers walk off their jobs, and the President of Iran and free speech in America.

FROM THIS EPISODE

The latest Red List shows that mammals, amphibians, birds and plants are disappearing faster than ever—because of human activities. Should we care that other species are becoming extinct? What’s their economic value? What to they have to do with human survival? Also, thousands of GM workers walked off their jobs today and, on Reporter's Notebook, Iran's Ahmadinejad has arrived in New York and he's testing the limits of America's free speech tradition.

The human contribution to climate change is one of the major themes at this week's meeting of world leaders at the United Nations. People are also accelerating the extinction of other species. The World Conservation Union's 'Red List' reports that 25 to 30% of mammals and amphibians are endangered along with 70% of plants—all because of human activities. Why should we care? What's the economic value of biodiversity? What does it have to do with our own species' survival?

Guests:Jean Christophe Vie, Deputy Coordinator for the Species Program at the World Conservation UnionPeter Kareiva, Lead scientist with the Nature ConservancyJerry Taylor, Senior Fellow at the Cato InstitutePaul Ferraro, Professor of Environmental Economics at Georgia State University

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in New York for the United Nation's meeting of world leaders. Tomorrow, he'll address the General Assembly. Mayor Michael Bloomberg denied his request to visit Ground Zero, but Columbia University has permitted a forum with questions and answers. Should Iran's President be allowed to speak in America outside the confines of the UN? Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich calls that an "outrage." Nebraska's Republican Senator Chuck Hagel says censorship violates who we are. Barbara Slavin, senior diplomatic reporter for USA Today, is author of the forthcoming Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the US, and the Twisted Path to Confrontation.